Some advice and a lot of first-hand anecdotes and observations from someone who accidentally had a career in the bike business.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

26 years in Grease

In March, 1989, I took a part time job assembling bikes to supplement my other part time job as a copy editor for the local newspaper. Three years later, mountain bikes were booming and newspapers were not. I ended up here in the shop full time. More or less.

The early 1990s were a really fun time to be in the bike business. When Shimano rammed Rapidfire down everyone's throat in 1990 it showed how things were going to go, but things stayed pretty adaptable for a couple or three years. Even as the technological avalanche built up, the rebel mechanic could still figure out how to resist assimilation.

I stand on the same spot where I stood in 1989, beginning to assemble bikes for 2015. It prompts a sort of annual review.